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Google’s first Developer Preview of Android Q is now available. This one’s not recommended for the public, though you can download it if you have the necessary hardware (full details here). At Google I/O on 7 May we’ll see the announcement of a public beta that is supported by many more phones. Whereas Android 9.0 Pie

Google’s first Developer Preview of Android Q is now available. This one’s not recommended for the public, though you can download it if you have the necessary hardware (full details here). At Google I/O on 7 May we’ll see the announcement of a public beta that is supported by many more phones.

Whereas Android 9.0 Pie saw the beta programme opened up for non-Pixel devices for the first time, including the Essential Phone, Nokia 7 Plus, OnePlus 6, Oppo R15 Pro, Sony Xperia XZ2, Vivo X21 and Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Google has promised that more devices will be supported for Android Q.

Iliyan Malchev, a Google engineer and Project Treble architect, broke the news on the Android Developers Backstage podcast. “So at Google I/O, when we did the first beta, we had all these companies lined up and that was really quite amazing. The number is bigger for the upcoming Android release, which I am very happy about. I cannot share the exact numbers yet,” he said.

It’s probable that we’ll again see Essential, Nokia, OnePlus, Oppo, Sony, Vivo and Xiaomi getting involved, but we could also see support from the likes of Motorola, LG, HTC, Samsung and Huawei.

When is Android Q coming out?

The Developer Preview is available now, followed by the first public beta on 7 May at Google I/O 2019. The final release will then likely land in August, as in previous years.

The operating then goes first to Pixel and Android One devices, as well as those that are part of the Beta programme, then is prepared and gradually rolled out by phone makers and network operators to other devices over the next few months. (Read more about the upcoming Pixel 4 and 4 XL.)

Not all existing smartphones will get the upgrade, and it’s typically flagships released in the past year or so that make the grade. Operating system fragmentation is still a major criticism of Android, and as you can see in the chart below some users are still on Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, and so few are on Android 9.0 Pie that it isn’t even shown in the table.

Version

Codename

Distribution

2.3.3-2.3.7

Gingerbread

0.2%

4.0.3-4.0.4

Ice Cream Sandwich

0.3%

4.1x-4.3

Jelly Bean

3.0%

4.4

KitKat

7.6%

5.0-5.1

Lollipop

17.9%

6.0

Marshmallow

21.3%

7.0-7.1

Nougat

28.2%

8.0-8.1

Oreo

21.5%

(Data collected during a seven-day period ending 26 October 2018 by Android Developers.)

What will Android Q be called?

Aside from what features the new OS will offer, one of the major questions in the lead up to launch always concerns what it will be called.

Google typically uses the names of sweet treats for its operating systems, which are released in alphabetical order. So far we’ve seen:

Android Donut (v1.6)

Android Eclair (v2.0)

Android Froyo (v2.2)

Android Gingerbread (v2.3)

Android Honeycomb (v3.0)

Android Ice Cream Sandwich (v4.0)

Android Jelly Bean (v4.1)

Android KitKat (v4.4)

Android Lollipop (v5.0)

Android Marshmallow (v6.0)

Android Nougat (v7.0)

Android Oreo (v8.0)

Android Pie (v9.0)

That presents us with a small problem for version 10: what sweet treats begin with a Q?

There’s Quality Street, of course, a British fave. Perhaps Queen of Puddings, potentially shortened to Android Queen because we’re all about Girl Power. Erm… Quiche?

Other suggestions we’ve never heard of include Quindim, Quesito, Queijadas and Qottab.

To be fair none of the options sounds terribly appealing, so could this be the year Google ditches its traditional naming system?

Vote for your favourite in our poll below.

What’s new in Android Q?

Now that the Developer Preview has been released we have more information about what are the new features in Android Q. This is not an exhaustive list, but some highlights spotted in the first few days with the upcoming OS:

Native screen recording – once enabled, a long-press of the Screenshot button can trigger a screencast, with or without a voiceover and visible screen taps

Accent colour customisation (such as in the Quick Settings menu), with a choice of blue, black, green and purple

New battery icon in Quick Settings tells you how long your battery is expected to last

Added ability to share Wi-Fi networks via a QR code

Revamped and faster Share menu with previews of what you’re sharing

More quick actions on notifications – when expanded you now see the ability to Block, Show Silently, or Keep Alerting

A new Emergency shortcut button is available in Power Options

Desktop Mode

Updated permissions that differentiate between whether an app is active or running in the background

Support for foldable displays

Ahead of the Developer Preview we had already heard about some of the features coming to Android Q, including the potential loss of the back button. We already lost the recent apps button in Android 9 Pie, and now our back button could be at risk too. According to code found by XDA, the Back button’s functionality could be replaced by the newly single home button. We’re really not sure how we feel about this change, which will confuse many Android users upgrading from earlier operating systems.

Other rumoured changes to the OS are more appealing, with some suggestion of improved RCS support that could open up the platform to third-party apps.

RCS, or Rich Communication Service, is in essence a data-enabled revamp of the standard text messaging service with added bells and whistles such as read receipts, group texts, the ability to see when others are typing, full-resolution photos and video, and location sharing. It’s not new, but it’s hit and miss in terms of where it is used. Android Police reports that in Android Q we could see many more RCS options open to users, provided their carrier supports the standard.

Ahead of the release of the first Developer Preview XDA-Developers managed to get hold of an early developer build, and having installed it on a Pixel 3 XL was able to confirm rumours of a potential Dark Mode, as well as DeX-like docking support for a new Desktop mode and a revamp of privacy options.

This system-wide Dark Mode had already been tipped with a post on the Chromium bug tracker from Lukasz Zbylut stating: “Dark mode is an approved Q feature […] The Q team wants to ensure that all preloaded apps support dark mode natively. In order to ship dark mode successfully, we need all UI elements to be ideally themed dark by May 2019.”

In terms of privacy changes, the site claims the Settings app now offers “an overview of permission access by apps and [the ability to] restrict certain permissions like location only while the app is in use”. All the associated app and permissions screens have also been redesigned to optimise the provision of at-a-glance info.

Android 10 got its first mention in November 2018 during the Android Developer Summit when the company confirmed that the operating system would have ‘screen continuity’, which is native support for apps that work on foldable devices. Apps are able to transition seamlessly from a phone layout to a more immersive tablet layout and vice versa.

This perhaps shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, given that several foldable phones are expected to launch in early 2019, including models from Samsung, LG and Huawei.

Other new features coming to Android Q include ‘multi-resume’, an update to split-screen that lets two apps not only be viewed but also run simultaneously; and warnings about installing older apps designed for an earlier operating system.